Milford students to receive more of basic subjects

MILFORD  City high school students should get an extra dose of the 3 Rs next year as the Board of Education is slated to adopt three new courses that will highlight the core subjects of English and algebra.

Brian McCready

Published
12:00 am EST, Tuesday, December 9, 2003

Assistant Superintendent of Schools Larry Schaefer is asking the school board to add two al-gebra courses and an English 3, Level 3, course to the citys two high schools.

The school board is also slated to vote at 7:30 tonight to make algebra a graduation requirement for 2008. If the measure passes, all high school freshmen students from 2004 on would be required to pass a full year of algebra in order to graduate.

Schaefer said 75 percent of the systems approximately 2,100 high school students have already met the requirement. Currently, high school students must take three years of math, but can avoid algebra courses by simply taking basic math courses.

The two new algebra courses are Algebra 1A and 1B, which in essence divides the traditional Algebra 1 course into a two-year sequence that would give students more time to master concepts, work on more applied applications and reinforce foundation skills to be successful, Schaefer said.

PTA Council President Michael Taylor said he supports the proposed new algebra graduation requirement and praised adminis-trators for "raising the bar academically."

Schaefer said the new English 3, Level 3 course is designed for students with learning needs who typically take traditional electives in high school, but may not include a writing component.

The new course would allow high school students to take a single year course that will pro-vide them with opportunities to develop writing skills over the full year, Schaefer said. Because students will have a single teacher for the year they can be better monitored for academic progress, he said.

The proposed course is designed to develop students skills in reading, writing, listening, viewing and speaking, Schaefer said.

Students will focus on works of literature from around the world, both fiction and non-fiction, as well as composition, vocabulary and grammar.